270 
162 
3PV 1 



Sketches of 



South Carolina 



By 



Gustavus cTWemminger Middleton 



W^ 



Press of 

■Walker. Evans C8. Cogswell Co. 

Charleston, S. C. 

1908 



Sketches of 



South Carolina 



By 



Gustavus cTVlcmminger Middleton 




Press of 

^Valker. Evans Ca. Cogswell Co 

Charleston, S C 

1908 






LIBRARY of CUNtJKESS 

IwoCoDies Kecuive<i 

JUN 27 )908 



Jk*^-%7 



vtuKin ciiujf 






COPYRIGHT. 1908 



GUSTAVUS MEMMINGER MIDDLETON. 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



BEAUFORT, S. C. 

To the coast region belongs the credit of introducing 
civiHzation to the hitherto unknown but now populous dis- 
tricts of the interior of the State. Of the three points from 
which the new influences radiated, Beaufort, Charleston 
and Georgetown, the first named was the pioneer. More 
than a century before the settlement of "Old Town" on 
the Ashley River the French Huguenots effected a landing 
in the neighborhood of Port Royal, probably on the island 
recently utilized by the United States as a Naval Station, 
judging by the remains of old landmarks there. This at- 
tempt, like that of Sir Walter Raleigh at Roanoke Island 
near the coast of North Carolina, about twenty years later, 
resulted disastrously, so that beyond the distinction of being 
the first landing of European colonists on the soil of South 
Carolina, the page of history is silent even as to their fate, 
but in the ferocious hostility that everywhere actuated the 
religious wars of that period, it is supposed that they per- 
ished at the hands of merciless Spaniards further South. 
The settlement of Jamestown in Virginia, having preceded 
all attempts at English colonization, was the focus of a con- 
siderable distribution of population, the general trend of 
which was to the South ;from thence came an accession to the 
plantations of the Albemarle and Cape Fear communities. 
Of course most of the communication between the inhabited 
points of the coast was by the easy transit of the ocean, 
and about 1664 the diary of Robert Sandford's voyage from 
Cape Fear to Port Royal gives a very interesting description 
of the country and water courses, especially of what was 
then called St. George's Ba}', now Charleston harbor, and 
of the friendly Indians with whom he sojourned in the 
neighborhood of Port Royal. It would appear from many 
circumstances that Beaufort should have been the chief port 
of entry of the State; its elevation, like Savannah, is many 
feet above the highest tide which rises and falls in navi- 



gable streams extending in its rear and forming almost a 
complete inland route for many miles north and south. 
From the residential part of Bay street, which is some fifteen 
feet above high tide, the view is a striking one for the low 
country. The Beaufort River, though curving here from 
right to left, forming a peninsula of the town behind which 
it disappears to join the Coosaw or Whale Branch, where 
the main land begins, presents an unobstructed vista for 
seven miles to Parris Island, beyond which its waters expand 
into the immensity of ocean, several miles further still. On 
the right bank halfway between Beaufort and the pictur- 
esque hamlet of Port Royal, which occupies the point of 
land lying between Beaufort River and its branch called 
Battery Creek, is one of those beautiful oak groves which 
adorn the low country ; from its extent and irregular growth 
it appears to have been the work of nature and is con- 
spicuous for many miles around from its elevated ground 
and its never failing verdure. Still more interesting as the 
work of unknown hands, on the sandy stretches of the beach 
belo\v the grove lie the remains of a tabby fort about a hun- 
dred and fifty feet square, one only of its sides resting on 
the main, the rest slanting with the beach and one of its 
lower angles submerged at high tide, the gradual en- 
croachment thereof telling a tale of unrecorded time. Its 
modern name is the "Old Spanish Fort," and the supposi- 
tion, according to a local authority, is that it was a con- 
struction of Governor Sayle of "Old Town" on the Ashley, 
in order to protect the inland settlers from the Spaniards, 
for the site is admirably suited to check marine invasion, 
commanding the channel of the river crosswise where it is 
quite narrow and also lengthwise, in its approaches from 
the South. The Town of Beaufort, laid out in 171 7. is 
never lost sight of from any point on the river, curving 
like Naples and showing its fine old mansions when lost 
to the eye by the aid of glasses from the lower stretches 
of the river. It seems a reasonable conjecture that the more 
land-locked harbor of Charleston and its greater distance 
from the Spanish settlements of Florida must have prevailed 
over the many attractive features of the Port Royal region, 
in transferring the energies of the first comers and finally 



concentrating greater numbers on the peninsula formed by 
the Kiawah and Etiwan. Beaufort, therefore, early with- 
drew from the race for commercial supremacy, and pursued 
the more quiet career of a rural community, unsurpassed 
in the character of its society by any in the State and adorned 
by some of the most distinguished citizens and professional 
men. The crops for many miles around being entirely of 
the hig-hland varieties and girdled by salt water inlets, 
excluding rice culture, the healthfulness exceeds that of 
places adjacent to swamps and fresh water. Beaufort 
claims, on its historic side, the only Secretary of the Navy 
ever contributed by South Carolina to the National Cabinet 
in the person of Paul Hamilton in the early part of the last 
century. Some very substantial houses of great antiquity 
stand along the eastern and lower section of the water front, 
protected by strong sea walls enclosing gardens and lawns 
shaded by mammoth specimens of still more ancient oaks. 

CHARLESTON, S. C. 

Charleston, though known the world over, and occupying 
as conspicuous a place in history as the largest cities of the 
Northern States in the great drama of the Revolutionary 
^^'ar, and noted for its culture and refinement, cannot lay 
claim to being the first choice of the adventurers who visited 
this Province in quest of fortunes and new habitations in 
the last half of the sixteenth century. It is generally ad- 
mitted that the earliest permanent settlement at "Old Town" 
on the west bank of the Ashley was the result of the sober 
second thought that it was a more secure harbor against the 
foray of Indians and the attacks of Spanish and French 
competitors for the possession of the new world than the 
more imposing but exposed situation of Port Royal, where 
the first Go\-ernor, William Sayle, is believed to have so- 
journev with his company from Barbadoes (before moving 
to Ashlev Rix'er) for several years prior to 1670, which date 
is accepted as that of the founding of the city and so de- 
clared by its seal. Beyond the knowledge of the site but 
little has surx'ived in the way of records or landmarks to 
afford anv glimpse of that brief experiment. Its sh(^rt life 



seems to have consisted of preparing to make scill another 
move, wliich occurred in the achiiinistration of Governor 
West in pursuance of orders from Lord Ashley, one of the 
Lords Proprietors of the Prox'ince, in a series of 
minute chrections as to the (Hmensions of the streets, 
the laying- out of squares and the erection of a 
palisade on the land side of the New Town. Some time 
before this Sir John Yeamans, the predecessor of Governor 
West, had brought with him negroes from the West Lidies, 
an example soon followed by subsequent immigrants, thus 
introducing an element productive of great wealth in the 
reclamation of swamps and tide-water lands by a race alone 
fitted for such work in a semi-tropical climate, and who for 
nearly two hundred years proved their efficiency by convert- 
ing the low country, though unsuited U) European laborers, 
into* a land of abundant and profitable harvests. The differ- 
ent climate, soil and productions of the upper country being 
then an unknown asset, the Province fiourished thencefor- 
ward as a slave-holding colony of the coast for many years, 
the commercial and social progress of the interior not mak- 
ing itself felt until a later period in the surveying of new 
tracts of land and in the accession of immigrants from other 
Provinces, from the North generally, of smaller means and 
cultivating the soil themselves, not large proprietors like 
those of the lower section on the coast. 

Besides its full share of danger growing out of conflicts 
with the Indians experienced by all the colonies, the fact 
that the Lords Proprietors were the legal owners of the 
two Carolinas led very soon to conduct on their part tend- 
ing to foster their personal interest to the injury and neglect 
of the infant community, in consequence of which an 
estrangement sprang up which resulted in an event of sig- 
nal importance and which may be regarded as a forerunner 
of the Revolution which occurred some fifty years later, viz: 
a successful demand for the transfer of authority from the 
Proprietors to the King. The opposition in the Colony took 
practical effect in 17 19. when Arthur Middleton, President 
of the Convention of the people, announced their determi- 
nation no longer to recognize the Proprietary Government, 
whereupon Sir Francis Nicholson was commissioned Pro- 



visional Governor who, soon returning home on account of ill 
health, left the discordant elements as he found them, in the 
hands of Arthur Middleton, who, as President of the Coun- 
cil, continued at the helm for five years until the arrival of 
the first commissioned Royal Governor in the person of 
Robert Johnson, in 1731. This point having- been gained, 
prosperitv and comparative quiet reigned under the joint 
government of Royally commissioned Governors and their 
Councils on the one hand, and Assemblies elected by the 
people on the other, until the great expense of the French 
and Indian \\'ar. ending in the conquest of Canada, induced 
the Home Government to tax the Colonies in various w^ays 
out of proportion to their interest in the policies that had 
created the debt. Here then was raised the cry, "No Taxa- 
tion without Representation," which was the keynote to the 
call for a general conference and culminated in the separa- 
tion and Independence of the Colonies. In the varying 
phases of the struggle to establish self-government on the 
continent, Charleston bore a conspicuous part, gaining the 
first signal victory at Fort Moultrie and suffering siege 
and capture at a later stage of the war, remaining like New 
York, at the mercy of the enemy until the successful termi- 
nation of hostilities by the surrender at Yorktown. Through- 
out the weary years and often waning fortunes of that 
memorable period Charleston's hand still continued plainly 
visible in the direction of affairs at the Council board of the 
Continental Congress, in which two of her sons, Henry 
Middleton and Henry Laurens, served in the capacity of 
President, besides having supplied at the outset the entire 
delegation who signed the eventful Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, viz: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., 
Thomas Lynch, Jr., and Arthur Middleton. The year after 
the evacuation of Charleston by the English witnessed 
also the city's starting point on a higher plane of progress 
and development in its incorporation by the Legislature and 
change of name to its present designation. Eight years 
later President Washington sojourned here for several days 
and was received with unbounded hospitality. The second 
war w^ith England in 181 2 necessitated defensive prepara- 
tions along the coast during the administration of Governor 



Henry Midclleton. The next distinguished visitor was the 
Marquis de Lafayette in 1824, who was hailed with an en- 
thusiasm second only to the greeting accorded Washington. 
The doctrine of Nullification though intended as a "high 
and peaceful remedy'' for resisting encroachments on the 
rights of the States, came near precipitating a collision in 
the matter of collecting duties under the provisions of an ex- 
orbitant tariff law, and Charleston was the theatre of great 
excitement between the extremists and conservatives. This 
difficulty having been adjusted by a change in the law and 
reduction of the duties, the more vital danger of interfer- 
ence with the internal and widespread institution of slavery 
soon appeared on the horizon ; the political Niagara of Se- 
cession in i860 to which the country was rapidly drifting, 
engrossed more and more intensely the minds of all parties. 
The National Democratic Convention, held in Charleston 
in May, i860, clearly revealed the cleavage between North 
and South independently of party names, which was con- 
firmed in the fall of the same year by the election of the 
first sectional President. Secession, not Nullification, was 
now the watchword, and the famous Ordinance which made 
South Carolina the first member of a new Confederacy, was 
signed in Charleston. The dispute about the possession of 
Fort Sumter, culminating in its bombardment and capture, 
placed Charleston in the van of the greatest conflict of mod- 
ern times, nor was it ever successfully assaulted through 
four long years of war and siege and it was only surrend- 
ered when the armies elsewhere had ceased to keep the 
field. The ten years' misrule of suffrage given the emanci- 
pated slaves was no "feather in the cap" of those who in- 
spired the saturnalia of plunder following the ruin of war, 
but it raised in the person of Wade Hampton a Deliverer 
who signalized the centennial of American Independence 
by restoring self-government to his native State and city. 
From the earliest times Charleston has endured visitations 
of nature by storm and tide, but in 1886 an earthquake of 
great severity shook its foundations and inflicted serious 
damage to even its strongest buildings, but this calamity was 
not without its blessing in the generous response of sym- 
pathy and assistance which flowed in from the whole coun- 



try; the restoration was so complete as to amount to an 
improvement in many instances. The South Carolina Inter- 
State and West Indian Exposition, held at Charleston in 
the first year of the present century, marked the dawning 
of a new era of industrial prosperity, and its beautiful site, 
since transformed into "Hampton Park,'' has added thereby 
a very popular and attractive resort. The attention of the 
National Government having been drawn to the increasing 
depth of the channel resulting from the erection of the jet- 
ties, the construction of a Navy Yard with all its modern 
accompaniments promises, under the favorable auspices and 
generous appropriations with which it was inaugurated, to 
become an important factor in the new life of Charleston in 
demonstrating to the world the easy ingress and egress of 
warships as well as vessels of all nationalities engaged in the 
more profitable and peaceful vocation of trade. 

THE BATTERY. 

The favorite pleasure resort and promenade of Charleston 
popularly known as the Battery, is the most delightful of 
all the parks the city possesses. This inviting spot, bathed 
on three sides by the mingled waters of the Ashley, Cooper 
and Atlantic Ocean, and occupying the extreme end of the 
peninsula on which the city stands, is the first point to w^hich 
all visitors are naturally attracted. The name "White 
Point" probably originated from the shore line which in 
this region is always of sand, and the existence of adjacent 
oyster beds. 

Only a small portion of the rectangle constituting the 
park proper is native soil, being made up and filled out to 
meet the requirements of the unbroken line of sea wall which 
forms a right angle at its southeastern as well as its south- 
w^estern corner, whence it returns to the original shore line 
or beach, a small section of which borders the sidewalk of 
the street called South Bay, which is the southernmost street 
of the city. This sole remaining piece of the original shore 
line or beach is interesting as indicating how great a portion 
of the park has been artificial and how little of it is to be 
credited to nature. 



From this point to the East or High Battery the contour 
of the beach can only be a matter of conjecture, but by the 
continual planting of trees and noting when they have sur- 
vi\'ed and where perished after repeated attempts to fill the 
vacant areas, a \ery good idea of the natural outline can 
be formed. The two open spaces adjoining the corners 
above mentioned testify to the fact that this was not only 
made land but that it was not properly tilled up, stumps and 
all sorts of debris being used instead of solid upland earth. 
In consequence»of this imperfect method of extension, all 
efforts to continue the grove to the water edge ha\'e proved 
futile, the salt water percolating through the decaying ma- 
terial underlying the thin layer above, which itself is con- 
stantly settling. About midway between Meeting and 
Church streets, on the other hand, the grove has attained 
a venerable age, a few of the trees even reaching the prome- 
nade along the outer or south wall. Tradition has it that 
a private residence once stood on land near the site of the 
Jasper monument. 

This spot was therefore evidently the backbone or main- 
land of the original "Oyster Point," east and west thereof 
being more or less artificial. The wall of the East or High 
Battery, so called from being several feet higher than that 
of the South or Low Battery, is not, like the latter, com- 
posed of concrete, but consists of granite blocks on its 
outer face filled in to the inner face or street wall with 
solid earth and broken rocks — the whole surmounted by 
massive flagstones coinciding in size with the width of 
the spacious promenade itself. The view from this ele- 
vated esplanade extending several blocks at right angles 
to the park of which it is the eastern boundary, is unob- 
structed on its seaside, comprising James and Morris 
Islands, bounding the harbor on the south, and the main- 
land with Sullivan's Island to the north. Fort Sumter fill- 
ing the gap betw^een the tw^o and guarding the entrance 
from the sea. Across the street and considerably lower, 
skirted by the evergreen palmetto bordering the sidew^alk, 
stately mansions of various styles of architecture afford a 
nearer and hardly less pleasing contrast to the tides that 
ebb and flow almost at their base. 



But no account of the Battery would be complete with- 
out some allusion to the part it has played in the stirring 
drama of war. At the return of the Palmetto regiment 
from Mexico there was a parade ending as usual on the 
Battery, where a sham battle concluded the exercises, the 
Charleston Riflemen holding the bridge to the old bathing 
house. In the Civil War serried rows of tents under the 
oaks sheltered for a while a regiment from Georgia. Then, 
too, the roof of the old bathing house, which stood oppo- 
site the south wall, was used as an observatory bv the 
Signal Service, and at night flaming torches waving sig- 
nals of light, transmitted messages to the neighboring posts 
of Forts Johnson, Sumter and Moultrie. On the spot now- 
occupied by the gun rescued form the sunken monitor 
Keokuk, stood a lofty gun carriage surmounted by a fine 
piece of ordnance, a present from England. On the evacu- 
ation of the city this gun was destroyed by an accident, a 
fragment being lodged by the explosion in the roof of the 
mansion at the corner. In the last few years the policy 
of changing the park into a garden is evidenced by the 
setting out and cultivation of smaller gTowth under the 
trees, and while this is undoubtedly pleasing to the eve, it 
abridges the use of the park as a play ground. 

The recent erection of a substantial and costh- music 
stand adds greatly to the natural attractions of the place. 
The project of extending the Battery to the western end of 
South Bay street has more than once been broached, but 
that "consummation devoutly to be wished" — among other 
considerations the summer breezes coming from that di- 
rection — seems further off than ever. 



MAGNOLIA CEMETERY. 

On the banks of the Cooper River in the suburbs of 
Charleston, but quite distant from the din and tumult of the 
city, is a quiet and retired spot devoted to a solemn puroose. 
Set apart more than half a century ago as a cemetery and 
called Magnolia, it elicits increasing interest and attention 
as the years pass by. The general plan follows the irregular 

,11 



and curved lines of nature, intersected as it is, by water in- 
■ troduced into the natural depressions, which have been deep- 
ened and enlarged to the proportions of lakes spanned by 
bridges, in some instances connecting islands with the oppo- 
site shores, or stretching from shore to shore. The first 
impression is therefore cjuite bewildering and it requires 
some time to become familiar with its labyrinthian design. 
The soil varies in character according to its elevation from 
dark mold to porous sand, so that there is abundant choice 
in the variety of its composition. It has no ancient or reg- 
ularly laid out rows of oaks, like the adjacent grove of Bel- 
vedere, since known as the Country Club, the growth being 
more recent and promiscuous according to individual 
tastes and preferences. The contrast of the white marble 
monuments with the foliage and flowers of various colors 
presents vistas of artistic beauty from different standpoints 
throughout the extensive grounds in bright weather, espe- 
cially when the leaves are glistening from recent showers, 
while the dearth of weeping willows, which are the most nat- 
ural expression of sorrow and emblematic of grief, is more 
than supplemented by the overhanging gray moss of the 
evergreen liveoaks. The first choice of entries was on the 
southeast or blufif side of the reservation, facing the wide 
expanse of water which forms its eastern boundary, along 
which it has gradually extended to the north, where its fur- 
ther progress is arrested by an inlet which separates it from 
the Country Club and which forms the northern boundary 
for a considerable distance. 

Among the first objects on entering the gate, which is 
near the southwest corner and flanked by fine specimens of 
the magnolia and palmetto, is one of the enclosed water 
views before mentioned, overarched by the evergreen oak 
in the foreground and in the distance spanned by a rustic 
bridge, while nearby on rising ground to the left where 
formerly stood a picturesque chapel, since displaced, and 
the area occupied by monumental enclosures of various de- 
scription, specially noticeable is a marble temple of Grecian 
design, the columns and roof thereof protecting a sarco- 
phagus of exquisite sculpture and an adjacent shaft of im- 
posing proportions but of a more sombre hue. Northeast 

12 



from this point on the outer road encirchng the grounds, is 
a unique monument conspicuous from its: outhne and work- 
manship; it is pyramidal, pierced by colored glass lights, 
with entrance surmounted by a marble statue ; the 
interior is a miniature chapel, the receptacles having the 
appearance of ordinary drawers of enduring material ; the 
floor is tesselated and furnished with a centre table garnished 
continually with fresh flowers overcast by the dim light of 
stained glass. Continuing on the same road lalong" the river 
edge near the southeastern point in a lot several feet above 
the causeway, is a fine specimen of Italian art, consisting of 
an oval or oblong piece of marble, dish-shaped, resting on a 
block of the same material and bearing on alternate sides 
the inscription and Coat of Arms of the family. Among 
the monuments of earlier date may be mentioned the ornate 
shaft erected to the memory of that brilliant scholar and 
jurist, Hugh Swinton Legare. Emblematic of the Lost 
Cause, where the road branches to the right after entering 
the cemetery, on an elevated square pedestal, stands a monu- 
ment to the Confederate dead in the shape of a bronze 
figure representing a private soldier in heroic pose guarding 
as it were his comrades sleeping peacefully in severed ranks 
on the slope below. In this connection perhaps it is to be 
regretted that the remains of Calhoun, South Carolina's 
greatest statesman, do not rest in Magnolia rather than in a 
crowded church-yard within the confines of the city. 



ST. JAMES, GOOSE CREEK. 

Prominent among old landmarks in the vicinity of Char- 
leston, about seventeen miles distant, stands the Church of 
St. James, Goose Creek, situated on a gentle declivity over- 
looking a fresh water stream of the same name, formed by 
innumerable rivulets of swamp water and emptying finally 
into the Cooper River. Erected in the infancy of the Colony 
when all of its inhabitants were loyal subjects of the Crown, 
it proudly retains to this day the Royal Arms of England 
as a conspicuous centre-piece, surmounting the pulpit and 
chancel wall. In addition to some very ancient tablets it 

13 



possesses probably the only specimen of a framed escutcheon 
known in heraldry as a hatchment, representing the Arms 
of the Izard family who took a prominent part in the affairs 
of the Province from the beginning as well as in its sub- 
sequent history. The marble tablets of the Decalogue, 
Apostles' Creed and Lord's Prayer were presented in 1758 
by William Middleton, a zealous patron of the Church who 
had been a member of His Majesty's Council in the Province 
until his return to England in 1754. The structure is not 
majestic, having rather the appearance of a large mauso- 
leum, the only exterior ornament being cherub heads at 
intervals along the cornice of the walls. There is no pro- 
jection or porch for an entrance, nor is the chancel provided 
for by any addition to the rear wall — the pulpit standing 
directly in front of the arched window. Like all the perma- 
nent church buildings that succeeded the first wooden tene- 
ments in South Carolina, the walls are massive and ren- 
dered still more lasting by oyster-shell lime. The same un- 
fortunately cannot be said of the brick enclosure which 
originally protected the churchyard, as not a vestige of it 
remains. Besides the few memorials visible above the 
ground, tablets on the inner wall indicate the existence and 
location of family vaults under the ground by such phrases 
as "Beneath this window, near the outer wall, etc. ;" "Near 
the chancel, etc." Under the fostering care of the Church 
of England whose jurisdiction was interwoven with the 
Government of the Province insomuch that the Episcopal 
Church was the ruling power for many years, it naturally 
possessed great advantages over the other religious bodies. 
To the faith and form of worship of their fathers the Eng- 
lish gentry, who had been granted large tracts in the fertile 
neighborhood of Goose Creek, were ardently attached, and 
the first missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel in Foreign Parts was sent out to minister here. The 
fact that prosperous estates and hospitable homes, graced 
with the comforts and accompaniments of refinement, have 
beyond the memory of man, been exchanged for the soli- 
tude of a wilderness, can be explained only by the unhealthi- 
ness caused by the stagnant water of undrained swamps 
conjoined witli the more alluring profits of rice agriculture 

14 



in the tide-water region nearer the coast. An interesting 
object not many paces from the chnrch. at right angles 
to the turnpike where it reaches the crest of the hill above 
the bridge, is a stately avenue of oaks planted as far back 
as 1680, by Edward Middleton, considerably antedating 
the building of the church ( 1713) and of as great antiquity 
as the Citv of Charleston itself. 



OLD ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH. 

The ancient Parish of Saint Andrew's on Ashlev River, 
laid out over two centurie.-; ago, claims the distinction of 
possessing the oldest church building in South Carolina. 
This parish, which was famous for the wealth and social 
prominence of its members, among whom the following 
estates were the most noted : Accabee, Aslilev Hall, 
Schievelin, Drayton Hall, ]\Iagnolia, Ashley Hill, and Mid- 
dleton Place, has now been for many years a dormant 
parish. The old church of Saint Andrew's, built in 1706, 
stands about six miles below Drayton Hall — the only man- 
sion that escaped destruction at the close of the cixil war — 
and between six and seven miles from Charleston on the 
Ashley River road, hidden by a copse or thicket from the 
open stretch of river marsh which covers so large a part of 
Ashley River in its lower windings. On its interior walls 
are tablets bearing kindred names to those on its contem- 
porary at Goose Creek. 0\-er the western entrance is a 
gallery, which was appropriated to the use of the slave 
tenantry. This quaint little church, built of brick, differs 
from its Goose Creek neighbor, being of cruciform design, 
and above the soutliern entrance was very plainly visible 
the date of 1706. The pews stood several inches above the 
tile floor of the aisles. The pulpit and reading desk, like 
the pews, were vevy substantial, but were replaced bv mod- 
ern ones of mahogany just before the Civil War. There are 
many broken vaults and tombstones of great antiquity scat- 
tered around the unprotected area and on both sides of the 
approach to the church from the river road. The congre- 
gation consisted of planters from along the Ashley and 

15 



Stono Rivers as far as Rantowles creek, and of the inter- 
vening region traversed by the Bear Swamp road. 

The services were confined to the winter season, as it was 
unhealthy in summer, when most famihes resided in the 
city. Between the years 1814 and the fifties there was a 
ferry as in Colonial times over the Ashley River where the 
New Bridge now stands, and after the advent of steam the 
genial ferry-man would detain his craft, quite independ- 
ently of schedules, waiting for any missing- passenger whom 
he had conveyed to his destination in the morning, rather 
than let him pass a single night in that malarial atmosphere. 
(This was, of course, during the summer season.) This ven- 
erable colonial relic, surviving the Revolution and Civil War, 
seems never to have elicited the interest that it richly de- 
serves, though so near the original settlement of Charleston 
at Old Town Plantation, a few miles below. The planta- 
tions of this parish produced a variety of cereals besides 
cotton, such as inland rice (by means of swamp water re- 
serves), corn, peas, potatoes and sugar cane. Quite recently 
a new departure has been made in extending to the whole 
parish the important work of drainage (hitherto confined 
to the efforts of private individuals on their own estates), 
by means of the Charleston Drainage Commission, which is 
attracting widespread interest and bids fair to enlist national 
attention and aid, and which will not only reclaim large 
tracts of fertile soil, hitherto unavailable, but also add to 
the other charming local conditions, the essential feature of 
healthfulness. The projected resuscitation of the Jockey 
Club, too, promises to revive the best days of the turf, for 
which this section of the low country was justly famous in 
ante-bellum times from an early period, as well as for its 
apparently unlimited resources of game. 

THE ISLE OF PALMS. 

Rising from the waters of the 1)lue Atlantic along the 
low and sandy shore of South Carolina not far from Char- 
leston, and forming one of the chain of sea islands for 
which that region is peculiar, there has remained unnoticed 
until Avithin the last few years a certain island whose beach 
is unri\'alle(l on the South Athmtic coast, and whose history 

16 



may be of interest to the many people who visit it during 
the summer season. Its formation is similar to that of the 
rest of these islands that abound along this coast ; that is, 
they consist of sand and other materials washed up by the 
sea, and may be regarded as encroachments of the land 
upon the water. It has a luxuriant growth of pines, palms 
and oaks, but of no great altitude on account of the ocean 
breezes to which they are constantly subjected. It differs 
from Sullivan's Island in not being a mere sand bank, cast 
up by the waves at the mouth of the harbor, its undulations 
being- of a more fixed and permanent nature, and not a 
succession of sand drifts and dunes at the mercy of 
winds and waves, much more resembling the neighboring 
main, from which it is separated bv a stretch of curving 
creeks and marshes. The beach, co-extensive with the 
island, is fully twelve miles long, affording a driveway un- 
equalled by the best roadway in the world. This island, form- 
ly known as Long Island, first comes into notice as having 
been the scene of the landing of the British troops dur- 
ing the American Revolution, at the time of the expedition 
against Charleston, in 1776, by Sir Peter Parker. The deep 
inlet at the southern end separating it from Sullivan's Island 
is the especial point of interest, as it was impossible to make 
the passage in the face of hostile batteries, in order to at- 
tack Fort Moultrie from the land side, while the fleet at- 
tempted to run the gauntlet of the fort itself. How famous- 
ly this at^tack on Charleston was repulsed by the complete 
defeat of the British, and how the vanciuished squadron 
sailed away to New York is an oft-told tale. For more 
than a century after this military visitation this island lay 
quietly on the bosom of the restless sea, undisturbed save 
by occasional storms and the friendly visits of hunters in 
search of game and adventure. It has in times past been 
used by farmers for raising products more or less, as some 
portions of the soil are somewhat fertile, and toward the 
centre is a swamp or lagoon which gives to the eye from 
an elevation a picturesque contrast to the surrounding 
scene. It is, however, in the last decade that it has come 
prominently into public notice as a pleasure resort, for 
which it is indebted to the advent of the trolley. During 
the summer months crowds throng the spacious pavilion 
erected there to enjov the music of the United States .\rmv 



I*ost Band, and to indulge in the luxury of salt water 
bathing. The broad beach presents an animated spectacle 
at that time with its moving panorama of bicycles and 
vehicles of all sorts. Fronting the ocean and in full view 
of the end of the jetties, there are vessels almost always in 
sight, passing in and out and adding to the variety of the 
scene. In addition to the attractions of the pavilion a fine 
hotel affords ample accommodations for the guests that 
frequent it in yearly increasing numbers, not only from 
the city, but from the interior of the State and from the 
neig'hboring States as well. The trip from the city is one 
of peculiar and varied interest. 

Emerging from the ferry boat the rustic village of IMoimt 
Pleasant with its cosey homes and shady lanes is quickly 
traversed and the long bridge is soon reached, which is the 
third that has been erected at this point, the first in the 
Revolutionary and the second in the Civil War. The trolley 
then threads gardens blooming with oleander and other 
flowers amid the wdiite sands of Sullivan's Island, grazes 
an angle of historic Fort Moultrie, near whose portal lies 
the grave of Osceola, the Indian patriot and warrior, while 
apparently within a stone's throw lies the other historic 
fort, Sumter, surrounded by its moat of boundless blue 
water. Approaching the eastern end of the island, the odor 
of the myrtle groves, from whose wax excellent candles 
were made during the Civil War, is very perceptible. The 
changed aspect on entering the Isle of Palms is very strik- 
ing; one observes little peaks of sand surmounted by pal- 
mettoes and is soon whirling through a variety of foliage, 
which becomes more dense, till, on nearing the terminus 
at the pavilion, a grove of live oaks sheds its perpetual 
shade down a sandy slope to a near creek on the rear of 
the Island. Thus has this now favorite resort — in ob- 
scurity for more than two centuries — become an integral 
part of the social life of the city and State, monopoJizing 
as it does so large a part of the pastime and pleasure seek- 
ing people of different and distant parts of the country. 

GEORGETOWN, S. C. 

Of the three ports of entrv in South Carolina, the 
northernmost stands at the head of Winyah Bay on the 
Sampit River, and near the confluence of the majestic 

i8 



waters of the VVaccammaNv and Pee Dee, the latter stream 
deriving its sources near the borders of Virginia and 
traversing- North Carohna under the name of the Yadkin. 
Though coeval with the settlement of Beaufort early in the 
eighteenth century, the records are meagre and afford little 
more information than that its site was originally granted 
to an ancestor of the Kinloch family, which grant was after- 
wards set aside in favor of the Rev. William Screven, the 
first Baptist minister in the Province, who proceeded to 
lay out a town with reservations for churches — Episcopal, 
Baptist and Presbyterian. His title being contested by Mr. 
Cleland, who had married a daughter of the first grantee, 
the difficulty was adjusted and the superior claim satisfied 
by his acquiescing in Mr. Screven's deeds of lots on the 
payment of an additional sum by each proprietor in the 
vear 1737. With a rich timl)er region for miles in its rear, 
unlimitecl in its supply of building material and naval stores 
and the tidewater swamp lands of immense extent enriched 
bv the loam of ages washed down from the middle country 
and mountains yielding the finest sample of rice produced 
anvwhere as fast as the land was securely banked and 
properly drained, the destiny of Georgetown as an em- 
porium of all this natural wealth asserted itself from its 
infancy, and its stock in trade soon rested on a solid founda- 
tion far in excess of its growth in population. Like its 
elder sister, Charleston, it was for a considerable period in 
the Revolution the headcjuarters of a British garrison, but 
subject to the eagle eye of Marion, who watched every 
opportunity to pounce on and capture any stragglers from 
the main body venturing beyond the reach of reinforce- 
ments. He would dash in and out of the town with an 
alacity which earned for him the sobriquet of "Swamp 
Fox." his frequent encounters ranging all the way from 
White's Bridge (about two miles from the town) to 
numerous and scattered points in the interior, where he 
would unexpectedly appear and surprise relief parties of 
the enemy, retreating as suddenly to the security of his 
camp on Snow Psland in a neighboring but inaccessible 
morass. Entering the Bay with the sandy hillocks_^ of 
North Island on the one hand and the shady groves of 
South Island on the other, and turning a sharp projection 
of woodland on the right, known as Eraser's Point, a full 
view of the town is presented, conspicuous among the 

19 



buildings being the rounded tower of the old Episcopal 
Church of Prince George Winyah, built of English brick 
about 1712, and next to the oldest church building in the 
State. The streets, with Bay street as a base line, are 
broad and at right angles, beautifully shaded by oaks, some 
of them, especially those on High Market street, being 
of great size and age. The outline of the town is that of 
a rectangle and its greatest dimension east and west. Sev- 
eral years before the Civil War the project of a railroad 
from Kingstree was so far advanced as to be graded 
throughout and partly trestled at Black River; the rails 
were actually ordered from the North, but the shipment 
was interrupted by the approach of hostilities. In June. 
1862, the Federal gunboats passed the coast batteries and 
opened iire wherever they suspected resistance, interrupting 
work and demoralizing the laborers, in some instances, as at 
the Dover plantation, robbing the proprietor of his hands 
before returning to their anchorage in the stream near the 
entrance to the Bay. The immense preponderance of the 
negro element, kept in a continuous ferment by the passage 
of the Civil Rights Bill and kindred acts of legislation by 
the Radical Congress at Washington in utter disregard of 
the efforts of Andrew Johnson to stem the tide of hostility 
against the white people of the South, which was then at 
its heig'ht. it is not surprising that the recovery of Georg'e- 
town was slow and for a long time doubtful. Since the 
resumption of better government Georgetown has con- 
spicuously shared in the shoulder to shoulder progress of 
latter years and bids fair to eclipse her ancient renown, 
with the accomplished fact of railroad facilities and deep 
water on her Bar in consequence of the successful result of 
the jetties which has opened the way for larger craft in 
addition to the present Northern Steamship Line. The 
only reminder of a long defunct industry survives in the 
Winyah Indigo Society, founded in 1756 for the two-fold 
object of fostering the culture of the staple which preceded 
rice and cotton and providing for the education of orphans. 
Honored by the presence of Washington on his Southern 
tour, it has in recent years attracted the attention of an- 
other President in quest of the game with which its waters 
and woods abound. With all the modern accessories of a 
progressive town grafted on the stock of its ancient and 

20 



honorable traditions, the future is bright with the promise 
of a new lease of commercial and industrial prosperity. 



THE HIGH HILLS OF SANTEE 



These interesting formations of sand hills are re- 
markable objects of curiosity, situated not more than 
eighty or ninety miles from the coast, and properly belong- 
ing to the low country of South Carolina ; in fact, they may 
be regarded as the memorial of work done by the waves of 
long past ages, as at their base the ocean once rolled. They 
lie in a ridge from three to five miles wide, and run in a 
direction from the Santee River between north and north- 
east. Their greatest altitude is not over three hundred feet 
above the level of the river, and affords a fine prospect of 
from tw-enty to thirty miles around. Excepting a narrow 
strip along the river, the lower part of these hills is a bed 
of barren sand. The best land on the hills is situated about 
ten miles below Stateburgh. and seven above it, but the 
extent is considerably diversified in respect of quality. 
There are several considerable streams which issue from the 
sides of the hills. As there is no stagnant water near, 
there is absolute freedom from the mosquito, and 
the nights are cool and pleasant. Springs of very 
palatable water abound, and fruits of various kinds are 
raised in perfection ; the trees wdiich flourish the most com- 
monly are the oak, hickory and pine. The staples indi- 
genous to the more fertile portions of the soil are cotton 
and corn. Vegetables also thrive in great variety. The 
first settlement was made about the year 1750 by a colony 
from the Old Dominion, so that even before the Revolution 
this locality was one of the most populous in the province. 

At this earlv period wealthy citizens of Georgetown 
established their summer residences among these famous 
hills. Hither in the old days resorted many people to re- 
cuperate their health, as the salubrity of this region was 
justly celebrated and as the mountains were almost un- 
known and practically inaccessible. Among the many dis- 
tinguished patriots of this era wdio sought this place in 
search of health was the Rev. William Tennent, the com- 

21 



panion of William Henry Drayton (and member of the 
Provincial Congress) on his mission of reconciliation to 
the wa\ering- elements of the middle and up-country. The 
present \illage of Stateburgh was settled about the year of 
the incorporation of Charleston (1783) by a company of 
which Gen. Sumter was the most influential member. The 
cultivation and refinement of this settlement are proverljial 
and need not be touched upon here. There were originally 
two Baptist churches and one Episcopal church in the 
neighborhood. The Baptist church was formed about the 
year 1770. Dr. Furman was the first minister and con- 
tinued here from 1774 to 1787. The original settlers from 
Virginia w-ere generally Episcopalians. It may be stated 
that a centur\- ago the Santee Canal connecting the Cooper 
and Santee Ri\'ers, was in active operation. As an inter- 
esting fact it may be further stated that this Canal was one 
of the first, if not the very first, in the whole country. 
There seems now to be a tendency to return to nature in 
the way of utilizing inland water transportation, as witness 
the widespread interest in deepening channels everywhere 
and removing obstacles to the navigation of creeks and riA'ers 
long since abandoned in favor of the cjuicker methods 
afforded by the numerous railroads, so that it is (|uite pos- 
sil)le that this Canal may be rejveniated at no distant day. 
In these times of rapid transit to and from the mountains, 
it is hard to realize the difference of locomotion l>etween 
then and now. w-hen this region was the Mecca of the in- 
valid from the heat and malaria of the lowlands. "The 
benign hills of Santee," as they were fondly designated by 
Gen. Henry Lee in the Revolution, appear to have well 
deserved this appellation, for this was the favorite camping 
ground of Gen. Greene during that early and critical period 
of the country's history. 

This elevated oasis formerly in such high repute among 
the dwellers of the surrounding plain, though unshorn to- 
day of its original attractions, has for many years been 
overlooked in the fashionable rush for distant resorts such 
as the increase of wealth elsewhere now offers the modern 
traveller and seeker after new and artificial environments. 
To people acclimated to the uniform temperature of the low 
country, the extremes between day and ifight in the moun- 
tains are often uncongenial and sometimes injurious to 

22 



health ; to such persons the equable conditions prevailing 
here are decidedly more conducive to comfort. 

The change to the mountains in the height of the sum- 
mer season proves often a serious shock to those who have 
been enervated by long- residence in the more torrid region 
of the low country. This observation applies more particu- 
larly to visits of too short duration for the system to become 
habituated to the rarer and cooler atmosphere of the moun- 
tain plateau, but in those days, down to the Ci\'il War, many 
families resided continuously in one place in the winter and 
another in the summer, not returning to their plantations 
until after a heavy frost, known more commonly as "black 
frost ;" in the case of those frequenting the mountains, thus 
enjoying the exhilarating influences of a Northern or 
European latitude and entirely exempt from the disabilities 
and drawbacks besetting their winter homes during the sum- 
mer season, there were no climatic risks incurred through- 
out the year. It is not surprising-, therefore, in view of 
these many qualities of soil, climate and social prominence, 
that this favored spot was seriously considered in the selec- 
tion of a site for the capital of the State, losing the choice 
bv the narrow margin of a single vote. 



^fe' 



SOUTH CAROLINA, PAST AND PRESENT. 

South Carolina, being one of the original thirteen, is 
richer in the domain of historic lore than the great ma- 
jority of her sister States, though representing so small a 
fraction of the Union in respect to territorial extent. It 
may be surprising to many of its inhabitants to-day to 
know that a hundred and fifty years ago it was, in the 
interior, merely an extension of the conditions which we 
have been accustomed to regard as peculiar to the prairies 
of the wild \A^est. Over its rolling hills and plains the 
buffalo, now all but extinct even in the West, afforded 
marks for the Indian's arrow and the rifle of the white 
settler, as many as twenty a day being sometimes the re- 
ward of a day's hunt by three or four men with their dogs. 
As for deer, four or five a day was a sure return for the 
expenditure of a little powder and shot by a single hunter. 
In the fall of the year one man could easily kill as many 
bears as would realize thousands of pounds of bacon. Wild 



turkeys were in the greatest profusion. In the low places 
and swamps, otters, muskrats and beavers were numerous, 
as many as a score of the latter having- been trapped in a 
certain neighborhood in one season. More formidable 
neighbors still were the wolves, wildcats and panthers. The 
abundant growth of grasses and wild canes afforded tempt- 
ing pasture for raising stock, which was the first step of 
the early settlers in a\'ailing themselves of the means of a 
livelihood. There being no market within several scores of 
miles, the cost of transportation almost swallowed up the 
profits accruing from the sale of whatever crops were 
planted. Naturally the first consignments were the skins 
of the wild animals mentioned, in which there was a con- 
siderable trade with the distant port of Charles Town. In 
addition to these, tallow and butter put in an early appear- 
ance as well as flour and hemp. On a larger scale indigo 
attracted general attention about this time, as many old 
plantation diaries afford evidence of, followed in the last 
decade of the century by the fleecy staple cotton, which 
down to the present day, has constituted the chief article 
of export and the main factor conducing to a favorable 
balance of trade in the foreign commerce of the whole 
country. So important indeed had this become to the fab- 
rics of the civilized world as to have won the sobriquet of 
"King Cotton," and the attempted erection of a separate 
Confederacy comprising the area of its production was 
based materially on this estimate of its financial value, 
which was ratified and confirmed b}' the report of 
Hugh McCullough, Secretary of the United States 
Treasury, lat the close of the Civil War, stating 
that nothing but the cotton in the Southern States 
saved the National credit. So likewise in the rice industry, 
which rapidly with cotton grew to be the twin staple of the 
State, though having its origin in the narrow limits of a 
garden of Charles Town and though its prolific results were 
confined to the tidewater region, yet small patches were 
eventually cultivated in the upper districts, wherever irriga- 
tion was obtainable, so that these semi-tropical products, 
side by side with those of a higher latitude, soon revealed 
the versatility of the agricultural resources of the Province. 
In a state of nature the country appears to have been 
healthier; in the case of the first settlers diseases seemingly 

24 



were rare, until the clearing of forests began and the break- 
ing of the soil with probably very imperfect drainage, but 
a change for the better returned with the improvements 
of organized society. The sparseness of swamps and low 
places in comparison with the low country, and the conse- 
quent absence of moisture and the pests that accompany it, 
with high and salubrious spots in proximity to each other 
supplied with springs of excellent water, afforded assur- 
ance, with ordinary precautions, of a growing and healthy 
white population in the course of time. Schools which were 
only of the most primitive character were few and far be- 
tween and limited in their attainments to the art of reading. 
After the return of the settlers to their homes from which 
thev had been driven by the Indian War of 1755-1763, in 
rehabilitating their plantations they were not unmindful of 
religion, and near the scene of the first church service in 
1754, there was soon a large congregation under the pos- 
toral care of a Presbyterian minister. To the coast region 
belongs the credit of entering the wedge of European 
civilization and turning the light on a hitherto dark and 
unknown continent. llie Government of the Province 
naturally consisted of and received its impulse from the 
leaders of this its centre of population, the ruling element 
of which represented the restored Government of Charles 
the Second and the Established Church of England, which 
was correspondinelv established here down to the Revolu- 
tion, many ofificial acts and records proving that the union 
of Church and State was almost as complete as in the 
mother countrv. The population of the back country, ex- 
cept for an occasional filtering from the low country, was 
derived from other sources and directions, — from the 
North, following Indian trails and mountain paths; from 
Pennsylvania through Virginia and North Carolina, — hav- 
ing little or no affiliation with the Episcopal establishment 
and jurisdiction. That influx gives support to the claim 
recentlv put forth in reference to the predominance of the 
Scotch-Irish element in the development and subsequent 
formation of the State. In after davs (and strikinglv so 
at present) the tables were completely turned; the political 
and social power of the coast region having been swept 
away with the peculiar institution on which it rested, and 
vast tracts of abandoned plantations having been con- 
verted into hunting preserves by Northern syndicates and 

25 



capitalists for the diversions of the winter season. While 
the tide has not yet turned from its lowest ebb along the 
coast country, the interior presents a marvellous contrast 
in the multiplication of cotton factories besides the cultiva- 
tion of the soil and a steady increase of population, so that 
the upper and lower sections of the State have exchang-ed 
places in many material respects, the ruling element gravi- 
tating to the transferred centre of prosperity and popula- 
tion. 

CAMDEN. S. C. 

About thirty miles northeast from Columbia, in the midst 
of a sandy ridge on the W'ateree Ri\'er, stands the historic 
town of Camden, the oldest inland settlement of the State, 
having been the spot chosen for their abode by a company 
of Irish Quakers, about the middle of tlie eighteenth cen- 
tury. About ten years after this, that is, in 1760, Col. Ker- 
shaw (after whom the county is named), who had pros- 
pered as a merchant in this section, laid out by lots the plan 
of a town, which he named in honor of Lord Camden. In 
the building of mills, stores and other enterprises he was 
assisted by his friend and partner Mr. John Chesnut. Flour 
in considerable quantity resulted from the establishment of 
the mills ; likewise a pottery and brewery were among the 
early commercial ventures. The Quaker element gradually 
disappeared with the growth of Camden and ceased to be 
a distinctive feature of the settlement a century ago. An 
extensive area carpeted with grass lying to the south of the 
modern town, temiinated by a walled cemetery, indicated 
like "the windy plain of Troy," the site of an ancient and 
departed community. A conspicuous object and solitary 
reminder of dwellings that had long disappeared, was a 
tall structure of three stories in the substantial architecture 
of the Colonial period, known as the Cornwallis house, over- 
looked this wide expanse through all the long years of peace 
down to the year 1865, when Sherman's ruthless and pil- 
laging hordes applied the torch and destroyed this interest- 
ing relic, which had survived the Revolution of 1776, in 
pursuance of the policy of havoc which had just laid the 

26 



Citv of Columbia in ashes in their dexastating" march 
through the State. Leaving the plain just mentioned, the 
site of modern Camden is slightly elevated and undtilating, 
the residences stretching out over the sandy formation of 
Hobkirk's Hill, the scene of Nathaniel Greene's defeat in 
1 78 1 by Lord Rawdon. and the death of the gallant Baron 
De Kalb, who is commemorated by a monument at the in- 
tersection of two of the principal streets, .\notlier decisive 
battle, also adverse t(j the American cause, had already oc- 
curred in the pre\'ious year ( 1780) in this vicinity between 
Lord Cornwallis and (ieneral Gates, named from its prox- 
imitv to a neighboring stream, the battle of Sanders Creek. 
Before the advent of railroads, located at the head of steam- 
boat navigation, it enjoyed for a considerable period a 
profitable and direct intercourse with the City of Charleston, 
througii the Santee Canal. Besides its natural resoiu'ces 
in the staple products of the country, the balmy atmosphere 
of the winter season which it shares with Aiken and Sum- 
merville, has attracted latterly the attention of tourists 
seeking a more genial clime. 



COLUMBIA, S. C. 

South Carolina, unlike Massachusetts, with whom she 
stood shoulder to shoulder in the Revolution, did not so 
value her chief seaport as to retain it as her Capital City. 
Only seven years after the Peace, the Legislature met at 
the new seat of Government on the Congarec, near the 
confluence of the Broad and Saluda, just one hundred and 
twenty years after the first settlement at "Old Town" on 
the Ashley River. In the diary of his Southern tour <\\u\ on 
his way home from Augusta, the advantages of the site did 
not escape the keen practical eye of Wasliington, as he 
notices the choice with high commendation. Ascending 
from the meadow lands bordering the Congaree. one is 
struck with the commanding aspect of the State House fac- 
ing the main street running nortli, which, though slightly 
lower than the Capitol itself, shares with the rest of the 
city, which is of rectangular form, an elevation of not less 



than two hundred feet above the stream. Geographically 
considered as the approximate centre of the State, there 
could hardly have been made a more accurate selec- 
tion, and great care was taken to provide more liberal 
space and to avoid the mistake of narrow streets 
and small lots by specifying the dimensions of both. Among 
the first results that followed the removal of the seat of 
Government to Columbia and the most beneficial in its 
consecjuences, was the establishment of the State College, 
which has not only numbered among its graduates some of 
the most distinguished citizens in the higher walks of life, 
but has shed lustre on itself by the life and labors of some 
very able instructors in the various branches of its course, 
such as Cooper, whose contributions on the subject of 
Political Economy were a noted feature of his time; Lieber, 
whose works on Civil Government have become a classic ; 
his son. who was State Geologist, and Dr. Thornwell. The 
Presbyterian Theological Seminary is noted for the high 
character and ability of its faculty and student body. The 
Hospital for the Insane has kept pace with the popular fle- 
mand for humane and enlightened methods practiced in ed- 
ucational centres elsewhere. The State Penitentiary is als(^ 
located here. In the matter of providing themselves with 
a building befitting the dignity of the Commonwealth the 
Legislature cannot be said to have acted hastily, for down 
to the middle of the nineteenth century an ordinary frame 
building was the scene of their deliberations. The War of 
Secession interrupted the work on a structure quarried from 
native granite, designed with great care and proceeding with 
fidelity to the specifications as far as it went, but the damage 
inflicted by Sherman's armv and the long delayed and in- 
sufiicient provision for its completion, has resulted in a 
very serious departure from the original conception ; espe- 
cially noticeable in its outward features is the diminished 
number of columns in front and the altered plan of the 
dome. A replica of Houdon's statue of Washington and 
a recent equestrian monument to Hampton adorn the 
grounds; also a Confederate memorial representing a pri- 
vate soldier. The site of the city, originally a cotton plan- 
tation, is now the location of cotton manufactures (^n a 

28 



colossal scale; its population having more than doubled 
itself in the last twenty years, an encouraging- fact consider- 
ing that it was almost entirely destroyed by Sherman's 
army in 1865. Besides being a railroad centre, the revival 
of steamboat navigation to the coast reopens a long closed 
addition to trade. 



GREENVILLE. S. C. 

In full view of the Blue Ridge, which skirts the north- 
western border of the State and which, with its undulating 
outline wrapped in snow, presents a striking picture from 
the tower of Furman University, especially when reflecting 
the splendor of sunshine on a winter's day, stands the pic- 
turesque City of Greenville, the third in order of import- 
ance and population in South Carolina. In the davs of 
stage coaches, when it was the terminus of the railroad from 
Columbia, which was built in the early fifties, it was the 
resting point of travellers in both directions across the 
mountainous region extending through North Carolina to 
Tennessee. Many years earlier, in 1839, a survey under 
John C. Fremont the first Presidential candidate of the 
newly formed Republican party in 1856. shows that the 
original design was to extend the railroad from Greenville 
through Saluda Gap to Asheville, N. C. The war inter- 
vening, the project of a railroad through the mountains was 
not revived until the early seventies, when a shorter 
and more easily graded line from Spartanburg was 
adopted. Whatever losses accrued from this change 
of plan were more than compensated by the con- 
struction of the Air Line from Charlotte to Atlanta, which 
has assumed the proportions of a trunk line between the 
North and South. Though not among the mountains, like 
Asheville, nor the water of its springs as cold, the atmos- 
phere is balmier in summer than the sun-baked clay and 
sand of the middle and low country, and for those who do 
not aspire to higher altitudes, such as western North Caro- 
lina offered, Greenville and its neighborhood became the 
favorite resort of inhabitants of the lower sections of the 

29 



State in the summer scas.(Mi. The Reedy Ri\er skirts the 
town on the south, but being quite shallow, vehicles are 
driven over its rocky bed in approaching the main street, 
accompanied by the agreeable sounds of a water fall and 
the busy hum of cotton factories. Besides the Baptist or 
Furman University which is situated on a hill across the 
river but on line with the main street which rises to about 
the same height, there is a Female College of the same de- 
nomination, a Military Academy and a good system of 
graded schools. Its manufactures are not confined to cot- 
ton, beings diversified bv factories of furnitinx, waefons, 
carriages, cottt^nseed oil, flour and lumber. Besides being 
the highest citv in South Carolina, nature has added to its 
attractions the beautiful resort of Paris Mountain, seven 
miles distant, commanding an extended \'iew reaching be- 
yond the confines of the State to its billowy wall of moun- 
tains — among its interesting features, distinctly visible, be- 
ing that curious work of geological ages, Caesar's Head, 
gazing, as it were, over the plain below. 

FLAT ROCK, N. C. 

Nestled among the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Caro- 
lina lies a little settlement, whose histor}- may be worth 
relating. Somewhere between the years 1830 and 1835 it 
first sprung into existence, as up to that time the primeval 
forests had been undisturbed and nature reigned supreme in 
all her untouched majesty, but aljout the tinie above men- 
tioned some one or two travellers in search of health re- 
sorts chanced upon the spot, which enchanted them from the 
beauty of the scenery, and the buoyancy of the atmosphere 
and they then and there determined t<:> build themselves 
unpretending but comfortable houses in which to pass the 
summer months. A wealthy Englishman was one of the 
first, if not the first, to settle: and slowly following his ex- 
ample, one by one, others came, until, by degrees, the giants 
of the forest yielded to the axe of the settlers, and it be- 
came la place requiring a name, which was immediately 
given it, and by which it has ever since been known, and 
has even established a reputation for itself. A large flat 

30 



rock was discovered in the midst of the settlement, and the 
settlers thought they could not do better than call their new 
home after this rock ; accordingly, Flat Rock it became, and 
has ever since remained. The early settlers numbered in 
their midst an English Consul, a French Count from Charles- 
ton, a wealthy Englishman of good birth, the rest of the 
community being composed of low country planters of 
South Carolina, and a few professional men from the cities 
of the low country. The difificulties of even building in 
those days would now seem almost insuperable, for carpen- 
ters or indeed, skilled workmen of any kind, were not to 
be found in this wilderness of woods. Each settler would 
have to supply his own workmen, tools and lumber, and 
railroads not even having been thought of in this part of 
the world, transportation of any kind was a very formida- 
ble matter, and the necessaries of life had to be hauled by 
primitive wagons over the mountain roads, which were 
often almost impassable, and weeks would elapse before any 
article of this nature would be received from the cities when 
ordered. When a family would move, to spend the summer 
in the new home, the heads of the household would have to 
look ahead and provide themselves with everything that 
could or would be needed for five or six months, in all 
departments of housekeeping, and as the change of clnnate 
was verv great, and as families always remained through 
October, clothing and house linen for summer and winter 
had to be transported, thus making a move a great under- 
taking. Only people of means could have ventured on such 
a location, as the soil, too, was rocky and sterile, and, in- 
deed, the settlers were all people of means ; it was simply 
for health and pleasure that they were in search of, and they 
succeeded in finding one and securing to themselves both. 
Each family would have its w^agon in which all their goods 
were stored, cavalcades of servants (who were as part of 
the family, being slaves in those days), horses, carriages, 
etc. Indeed the advent of each family was more to be com- 
pared to Jacob's journey into Es:ypt than anything else. 

By degrees a church was built, then a postoffice, then a 
a hotel, and after a time blacksmiths, carpenters and such 
like found it to their interest to put up sheds into which 

31 



much custom came to them, yet the natives remained the 
same unthrifty, primitive people they ever were. Of course 
after erecting a church (St. John in the Wilderness by 
name) a minister followed, and after a while there were 
settlers enough to fill the pews in the quaint little country 
church. For many years the homes of the settlers were 
crude in the extreme as to surroundings, but by degrees 
an air of cultivation was acquired and some of the places 
were in time models of beauty. Each settler had his own 
orchard and vegetable garden, so that after a while by dint 
of much fertilizing there was no limit to his supply of 
fruit and vegetables ; then the places, too, were stocked, 
and fine cows, sheep, etc., were to be seen grazing on the 
green lawns which gradually took the place of the original 
rocky, stumpy fields. The class of people who settled here 
being all cultivated and refined, and being pretty much all 
known to each other in the low country, there was a great 
interchange of civilities and a great deal of hospitality 
was shown, not only among themselves but to any strangers 
who came to the one hotel the settlement contained. The 
houses were all plain but comfortable, and apparently com- 
modious, as they were usually taxed to their fullest extent 
by friends and relatives of each family who would invari- 
ably spend a part or whole of the summer with them. In 
this wav the summer passed until the Civil War began, when 
most families remained all winter in the settlement, as their 
homes on the seacoast were broken up and it was impossible 
to travel back and forth any longer. During the war the 
"bush whackers" or deserters from both sides gave the set- 
tlement no end of trouble, but by the time the men returned 
from the armies and the war was at an end they organized 
themselves for mutual protection^ against these desperadoes, 
and their depredations were soon at an end. 

As a result of the war a few places changed hands, and 
new ones were settled by many wealthy newcomers from 
other parts of the country, and in some instances on a much 
grander scale. Since the advent of the railroad, transporta- 
tion has become an easy affair from all parts of the country, 
and the fame of Flat Rock as a health and pleasure resort 
has become proverbial. 

32 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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